Converge 2017

Bright Minds.Bright Future.

February 6-7, 2017Shaw Convention Centre, Ottawa

What kind of Canada do we want in the next 50 years?

Future innovators, creators, entrepreneurs and community leaders from Canada’s universities joined thought leaders from across the country in Ottawa February 6-7, 2017 to explore what Canada can become in the next 50 years. #Converge2017

His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, the 28th Governor General of Canada, has dedicated his life to public service. A strong believer in both equality of opportunity and excellence, he spent most of his career in higher education as a professor and later administrator of several of Canada’s leading universities. Notably, he was principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University for fifteen years starting in 1979 and president and vice-chancellor of the University of Waterloo (1999-2010).

His Excellency has focused his mandate on strengthening learning and innovation, philanthropy and volunteerism, and families and children. Since his installation as Governor General in October 2010, Mr. Johnston has travelled widely across Canada and around the world, connecting, honouring and inspiring Canadians and their global partners.

Mr. Johnston is the author or co-author of more than 25 books and he holds honorary doctorates from more than 25 universities and learning institutions in Canada, China and India. He was promoted to companion of the Order of Canada, the Order’s highest level, in 1997.

Our youth have the talent, drive and ideas needed to shape the innovative, prosperous and inclusive Canada of tomorrow. Converge 2017 youth delegates will share questions and ideas about how they envision Canada’s future.

How does Canada build a path to prosperity in the face of huge economic and demographic shifts? Dominic Barton will discuss the bold moves we can make to drive innovation and be a model for other nations during turbulent times.

February 6, 2017, 8:45 – 9:45 am

In his 30 years with the global management consulting firm, Mr. Barton has advised clients in a range of industries including banking, consumer goods, high tech and industrials. Currently, he also serves as the chair, federal Economic Growth Advisory Council.

In addition to being a board member on a number of business councils and foundations, Mr. Barton is co-chair of the Focusing Capital on the Long Term initiative, which seeks to develop practical structures, metrics and approaches for longer-term behaviours in the investment and business worlds.

Co-author of Dangerous Markets: Managing in Financial Crises (2002) and China Vignettes: An Inside Look at China (2007), Mr. Barton has authored more than 80 articles on the role of business in society, leadership, financial services, Asia, history and the issues and opportunities facing markets worldwide.

Mr. Barton has received multiple awards including South Korea’s Order of Civil Merit (Peony Medal) and the Singaporean Public Service Star (Distinguished Friends of Singapore).

He graduated from the University of British Columbia with a BA Honours in economics and studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Brasenose College, Oxford University, where he is now an honorary fellow. Mr. Barton is also an adjunct professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing.

Keynote address: The path to Canada’s future: Education and reconciliation

As we look ahead to 2067, what are the roads to reconciliation? How does education empower Canada’s Indigenous youth and help them achieve their tremendous potential?

February 6, 2017, 12:30 – 2:00 pm

Roberta Jamieson is a Mohawk woman from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario, where she still resides. In November 2004, she was appointed president and CEO of Indspire, Canada’s premiere Indigenous-led charity named on Financial Post’s Top 25 Charities. Under Ms. Jamieson’s leadership, Indspire has disbursed over $12.2 million through 3,792 bursaries and scholarships to Indigenous students. Ms. Jamieson is also executive producer of the Indspire Awards, a nationally broadcast ceremony honouring Indigenous achievement.

She has extended Indspire’s youth career conferences to all regions of Canada and launched a recognition program for educators of Indigenous students. Ms. Jamieson also led the development of Indspire’s K-12 Institute, a virtual resource centre focused on increasing high school completion rates and K-12 success.

Ms. Jamieson has enjoyed a distinguished career of firsts. She was the first Indigenous woman to earn a law degree; the first woman Ombudsman of Ontario (1989-1999); and in December 2001, she was the first woman elected chief of the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory.

She has earned numerous awards as well as received 25 honorary degrees. She has been named three times to the Women’s Executive Network’s Top 100 list and is an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Other speakers

Resetting the relationship: Advancing reconciliation within the university and beyond

February 6, 2017 2:30 – 4:00 pm

Killulark (Laura) Arngna’naaq is the director of finance for the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning in Yellowknife. She is one of the few Inuk chartered accountants in Canada. She graduated from Trent University with a bachelor of business administration in 2011 and was the first Indigenous student to be accepted into the prestigious master of management and professional accounting program at the University of Toronto. She completed her master’s degree in 2013 and achieved all her professional qualifications in 2015. While studying at Trent, Laura served as the Aboriginal student ambassador.

Ms. Arngna’naaq lived in southern Ontario from 2000 to 2016 where she worked diligently to stay connected to her Inuit roots: teaching herself to carve soapstone, and working on her Inuktitut language skills through self-study and by auditing an Inuktitut course at the University of Toronto. She even built a kayak in her few spare hours and learned the traditional Inuit game of throat singing.

She volunteers for organizations serving Indigenous people and has taken on the challenge of bringing awareness of Inuit heritage and history to her financial sector colleagues.

Lecturer, department of English, languages and cultures, Mount Royal University

Pop-up poetry

February 6 -7, 2017

derek beaulieu is an internationally-recognized text artist, conceptual writer and literary critic, who teaches in the faculty of English at Mount Royal University. He is the author or editor of 15 books, including collections of poetry with wax, fractal economies, chains, silence, ascender / descender, kern, frogments from the frag pool (co-written with Gary Barwin) and Please no more poetry: the poetry of derek beaulieu .

He has also written four collections of conceptual fiction: a novel, flatland, Local Colour and the W.O. Mitchell Award nominated How To Write. He is the author of two collections of essays: Seen of the Crime and The Unbearable Contact with Poets. Mr. beaulieu co-edited bill bissett’s RUSH: what fuckan theory (with Gregory Betts) and Writing Surfaces: selected fiction of John Riddell (with Lori Emerson).

He is the publisher of the acclaimed no press and is the visual poetry editor at UBUWeb. Mr. beaulieu has exhibited his work across Canada, the United States and Europe and is an award-winning instructor. He studied contemporary Canadian poetics at the University of Calgary. He was the 2014–2016 poet laureate of Calgary.

Valérie Bécaert is director of partnerships and knowledge mobilization at the Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO), a body that brings together the expertise of 1,000 scientists for the purpose of promoting the optimal use of data from all sources and in all forms for economic and social purposes. With funding from Canada First Research Excellence Fund, IVADO will fulfill its mission to make Montreal an internationally recognized scientific hub for data enhancement and artificial intelligence.

Dr. Bécaert holds a doctorate in chemical engineering (environmental modelling) from Polytechnique Montréal. Beginning her career as a researcher in the field of life cycle analysis, a powerful tool for modelling the potential impact of human activity on the environment, she was subsequently director of the International Reference Centre for the Life Cycle of Products, and co-founder and director of the Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Sustainable Development Operationalization. Working with researchers in optimization and mathematics on resolving environmental problems has convinced Dr. Bécaert that our capacity to generate, analyze and enhance data will change the world.

Prior to joining the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, Mr. Beck served as the Canadian high commissioner to the Republic of India with concurrent accreditation to the Kingdom of Bhutan and to Nepal. He joined Global Affairs Canada in 1982 and served abroad in the United States, Taiwan, and the People’s Republic of China.

In Ottawa, he held a number of positions, including director general of the North Asia Bureau, director general responsible for senior management, and rotational assignments and assistant deputy minister for international business development, investment, and innovation. He was consul general in Shanghai and prior to his posting to India, he was consul general in San Francisco.

From the moment Mr. Bird joined the Community Foundations of Canada in 2011 he embraced its “all for community” vision and began exploring opportunities to mobilize its diverse network of 191 community foundations to achieve greater collective impact across the country.

A two-time Olympian in field hockey, Mr. Bird was well known in the sport community for his ability to bring groups together to affect change. He quickly began doing the same at CFC. From expanding CFC’s circle of champions to include new voices and expertise, to building new partnerships based on common interests and outcomes, Mr. Bird has worked hard to find new ways for the movement to address complex community issues.

Under Mr. Bird’s leadership, CFC established a landmark Smart & Caring Communities initiative to help build a smart and caring Canada. This vision continues to shape CFC’s engagement with the 150Alliance and other partners towards a pluralistic and reconciled Canada in 2017 and beyond. CFC, alongside Canada’s community foundations, has also played an integral role in founding and incubating the Rideau Hall Foundation, with Mr. Bird at the helm as its first executive director.

Provincial security advisor to the Government of Ontario since January 2, 2017, Mr. Boisvert will be tasked with providing advice and intelligence on national security matters that fall under provincial responsibility. He will support efforts to protect provincial assets from events that could affect services, networks and facilities that are critical to Ontario’s economy, public safety and security.

Previously, he was founder and president of I-Sec Integrated Strategies (ISECIS), a company that provided strategic and tactical advice to private and public sector clients in the areas of risk identification and mitigation. He also worked with Hill + Knowlton Strategies as part of their digital resilience team from 2014-2016.

Mr. Boisvert has over 30 years’ experience in the field of intelligence and national security. He began his career in the RCMP and has held a number of senior positions with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. During his tenure at CSIS, Mr. Boisvert was involved in broad facets of security intelligence operations, including technology, counter terrorism, data exploitation and risk management, among others.

He holds a BA in political science and history from Carleton University.

Jessica Bolduc is the executive director of the 4Rs Youth Movement, a collaboration of 14 national organizations who are working with youth to create capacities for Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people to come together to cultivate understanding and action in support of a better future.

Jessica is an Anishinaabe-French from Sault Ste. Marie, Batchewana First Nation, and has lived in Northern Ontario her whole life. She is a board member for Community Foundations of Canada and Thinking Rock Community Arts, and a member of the Core Team for the Youth Social Infrastructure Collaborative (YSI).

In her community, Ms. Bolduc is working with other young leaders to foster arts-based economies, social infrastructure and hub spaces for change makers in Northern Ontario and in the future is hoping these initiatives will be a catalyst in the development of a community foundation in Sault Ste. Marie.

Resetting the relationship: Advancing reconciliation within the university and beyond

February 6, 2017 2:30 – 4:00 pm

Dr. Sheila Cote-Meek is the author of Colonized Classrooms. Racism, Trauma and Resistance in Post-Secondary Education (2014). She is a full professor in the School of Rural and Northern Health at Laurentian University where she is currently associate vice president, Academic and Indigenous Programs.

As the senior academic lead on Indigenous programs her responsibilities include university faculty relations as well as leading Indigenous academic developments across the disciplines. She is also the lead on the development of the Indigenous Sharing and Learning Centre, a physical space dedicated to Indigenous learning, culture and scholarly pursuit at Laurentian University.

Born and raised in northern Ontario, she is a member of the Teme-Augama Anishnabai.

Dr. Aaron Devor holds the world’s only research chair in transgender studies. Studying and teaching about transgender topics for more than 30 years, he is the author of numerous well-cited scholarly articles, and the widely acclaimed books FTM: Female-to-Male Transsexuals in Society (2016, 1997), Lambda-Literary-Awards-finalist The Transgender Archives: Foundations for the Future (2014), and Gender Blending: Confronting the Limits of Duality (1989).

He is a 3M-award-winning teacher, an elected member of the elite International Academy of Sex Research, and an elected Fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. He has also been a member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s Standards of Care committee since 1999 and is overseeing the Standards’ translations in world languages.

Dr. Devor is the founder and academic director of the world’s largest Transgender Archives and the convener of the Moving Trans History Forward conferences. He is currently a professor of sociology at the University of Victoria and was previously its former dean of graduate studies (2002-2012).

Assistant professor, women and gender studies institute, University of Toronto

The power of art: Strengthening and celebrating pluralism through the arts

February 6, 2017 2:30 – 4:00 pm

Dr. Robert Diaz is an assistant professor at the women and gender studies institute at University of Toronto. His research, teaching, and community work focus on the rich intersections between Asian, diasporic, and migratory forms of cultural expression. His scholarship has appeared in leading publications on race, gender, and sexuality. Dr. Diaz is also committed to equity and the pursuit of social justice. He has worked with organizations in the greater Toronto area that seek to better the lives of racially marginalized, queer, and Indigenous communities.

Dr. Diaz is currently co-editing Diasporic Intimacies: Queer Filipinos and Canadian Imaginaries, aground-breaking collection that foregrounds the contributions of LGBTQ Filipinos to Canadian culture, society, and the arts (forthcoming with Northwestern University Press). This collection was inspired by a historic gathering Diasporic Intimacies: Queer Filipinos /as and Canadian Imaginaries of which he was one of the co-organizers.

Ms. Ebrahim is the co-director of Doblin, a global innovation firm, in Canada, leading design-driven, user-centred transformation projects with the public and private sector. A designer with a background in architecture, her focus has been on engaging diverse sets of stakeholders around complex organizational and industry challenges.

Ten years ago, Ms. Ebrahim founded archiTEXT, one of Canada’s first design-led innovation firms, leading project withCanada’s largest charities, philanthropic organizations, and governing bodies to help them understand how to better engage the people they’re trying to serve.

Ms. Ebrahim has taught for six years at the OCAD University, the Museum of Modern Art, and currently teaches at the University of Toronto. She has served at innovator in residence at Canada’s national design museum, was recently featured in Toronto Life’s “50 Most Influential People in the City” issue, a Next City’s Vanguard “40 under 40 Civic Leader”, and was named a United Way “Changemaker to Watch in 2016”.

In her spare time, she serves actively on boards and as an advisor to select initiatives, chairing the board of Jane’s Walk, and serving as vice-chair of the board of St. Stephen’s Community House, one of Toronto’s largest social service agencies.

Research chair, computational media and the Indigenous future imaginary, Concordia University

10 minutes to 2067

The initiative for Indigenous futures

February 7, 2017, 9:15 – 10:45 am

Jason Edward Lewis is a digital media poet, artist and software designer. He founded Obx Laboratory for Experimental Media, where he directs research/creation projects on computation as creative and cultural material. Professor Lewis is a Trudeau Fellow and professor of computation arts at Concordia University.

Professor Lewis is deeply committed to developing intriguing new forms of expression by working on conceptual, critical, creative and technical levels simultaneously. He co-directs the Aboriginal territories in cyberspace research network that investigates how Indigenous people use digital media to understand their past, engage with the present, and shape the future. He co-directs the Skins workshops on Aboriginal storytelling and video game design, and leads the Initiative for Indigenous futures partnership.

Before joining academia, Lewis spent 15 years in Silicon Valley exploring early digital and networked media at the Institute for Research on Learning, Fitch Design, and Interval Research. In 2009 he founded Arts Alliance Laboratory, the research and development arm of London-based venture capital firm Arts Alliance.

Born and raised in northern California, he is Cherokee, Hawaiian and Samoan.

George Elliott Clarke is Canada’s seventh poet laureate. A graduate of the University of Waterloo (BA, Hons., 1984), Dalhousie University (MA, 1989) and Queen’s University (PhD, 1993), Dr. Clarke is also the inaugural E.J. Pratt professor of Canadian literature at the University of Toronto.

His academic career highlights include teaching as an assistant professor of English and Canadian studies at Duke University, North Carolina (1994-99); serving as the Seagrams visiting chair in Canadian studies at McGill University (1998-99), and as a noted scholar at the University of British Columbia (2002), as a visiting scholar at Mount Allison University (2005), and as the William Lyon Mackenzie King visiting professor in Canadian studies at Harvard University (2013-14).

He has also worked as a research, editor, social worker, parliamentary aide, and newspaper columnist.

His many honours include the Portia White Prize for Artistic Achievement (1998), Governor-General’s Award for Poetry (2001), the National Magazine Gold Medal for Poetry (2001), the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award (2004), the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellowship Prize (2005), the Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction (2006), the Eric Hoffer Book Award for Poetry (2009), appointment to the Order of Nova Scotia (2006), appointment to the Order of Canada at the rank of Officer (2008), and eight honorary doctorates.

Dr. Breanne Everett co-founded Orpyx Medical Technologies to develop her idea for shoe insoles that prompts patients with diabetic foot conditions to move their feet to improve blood flow. This unique, wearable technology has improved users’ quality of life and reduced health-care costs by decreasing the risks of sores, infection and amputation caused by diabetes-related nerve damage and poor circulation. The Orpyx platform technology can also be leveraged to multiple applications in pressure sore prevention, athletic performance optimization and injury prevention.

A medical doctor and resident in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of Calgary, Dr. Everett was one of six national winners awarded the Governor General’s Innovation Award in 2016. She is a Loran national scholar, who serves as an active member of the Loran alumni community, and is a member of the scientific review board of the Pedorthic Research Association of Canada and the Canadian Medical Association’s Joule Innovation Council.

The power of art: Strengthening and celebrating pluralism through the arts

February 6, 2017 2:30 – 4:00 pm

Assistant professor Andrea Fatona is currently the director, curatorial and critical studies graduate program at the OCAD University.

She is the former curator of contemporary art at the Ottawa Art Gallery, and has worked as the program director at Video In, Vancouver, co-director of Artspeak Gallery, Vancouver, and artistic director of Artspace Gallery, Peterborough.

Dr. Fatona is the recipient of awards from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council. She is a contributing editor at C Magazine and TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies. She has published scholarly articles, catalogue essays, and book chapters in a range of publications.

Miskwêyitamowin: Reimagining the role of universities as partners in reconciliation

February 7, 2017, 9:15 – 10:45 am

Max FineDay is a citizen of Sweetgrass First Nation and currently serves as co-executive director of Canadian Roots Exchange, a national non-profit providing Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth with opportunities to engage in reconciliation dialogues, leadership development, and educational initiatives.

His past work includes youth leadership development, speaking on change making, and increasing accessibility of postsecondary education for under-represented communities. Mr. FineDay received a 40 Under 40 Award from CBC Saskatchewan in 2014.

With a Norwegian-Canadian and nêhiyaw background, reconciliation has been a foundational value for Max. He believes strongly that the leadership and voices of his generation can achieve reconciliation for Canada.

Mr. FineDay has contributed to The Globe and Mail, CBC, Briarpatch magazine, Academica, and has written about the social determinants of health from an Indigenous lens for Upstream, a national think tank focusing on health policy.

He holds a BA in political studies from the University of Saskatchewan and has also studied in the Arctic Circle at the University of Nordland in Bodø, Norway.

When Mr. FineDay isn’t rabble-rousing, you can find him learning nêhiyawewin (Cree language), tweeting, and laughing at his own jokes.

Suzanne Fortier is principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University since September 2013. Prior to her appointment as principal, professor Fortier was president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada from 2006 to 2013, and held the position of vice-principal (academic) from 2000 to 2005 and vice-principal (research) from 1995 to 2000 at Queen’s University, where she was a professor in the department of chemistry and in the school of computing.

A native of St-Timothée, Québec, professor Fortier graduated from McGill with a BSc (1972) and a PhD in crystallography (1976). She has received numerous awards and recognitions including honorary doctorates from Thompson Rivers and Carleton Universities, as well as the University of Glasgow. She is an officer of France’s National Order of Merit, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was named a specially elected fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2015).

Professor Fortier is currently vice-chair of the Science, Technology and Innovation Council, and a member of the International Jury of France’s Investissements d’Avenir and the Canadian Business-Higher Education Roundtable. In 2016 she was appointed to the Canadian federal minister of finance’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth as well as the World Economic Forum’s Global University Leaders Forum. Professor Fortier is a director on the board of Universities Canada.

Dean, faculty of culture and community, Emily Carr University of Art + Design

The power of art: Strengthening and celebrating pluralism through the arts

February 6, 2017 2:30 – 4:00 pm

Dr. Cissie Fu is dean of the faculty of culture and community at Emily Carr University of Art + Design and co-founder of the Political Arts Initiative.

Her research sits at the nexus of politics, philosophy, and performance, with a focus on contemporary political manifestations through individual and collective action and expression. She is currently writing a book on the politics of silence.

After receiving a bachelor of arts in government and philosophy at Harvard University, Dr. Fu obtained a master’s in women’s studies, a master of science in political research and methodology, and a PhD in politics and international relations at University of Oxford. She has lectured at Oxford and University College London. Dr. Fu continues to be a regular guest curator and performer at art institutions.

Steve Giasson is a conceptual artist who uses a wide variety of mediums (conceptual writing, performance art, installations, videos and photography) to transcend genres and test their limits.

He has published 20 art and poetry books and is currently pursuing a PhD in art studies and practices at UQAM. His work has been showcased in Canada, the United States, Mexico, England, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden through five solo exhibitions and numerous group exhibitions, including the Liverpool Biennial 2012, the Text Festival 2011 and 2014 (Manchester), the Dark Would at Summerhall (Edinburgh), Ed Ruscha Books & Co. at Museum Brandhorst (Munich) and the Gagosian Gallery (New York, Paris and Beverly Hills).

In its 2015 year in review edition, the Montreal daily Le Devoir praised Mr. Giasson as one of three rising stars who represent the future of our visual arts scene. He was awarded the La Vitrine Culturelle (cultural showcase) prize for emerging artists and a Cirque du Soleil special mention at the 2015 edition of the Art Souterrain (underground art) festival.

Professor, department of English, languages, and cultures, Mount Royal University

Pop-up poetry

February 6 -7, 2017

Richard Harrison’s six books of poetry include the Governor-General’s Award-nominated Big Breath of a Wish, poems on his infant daughter learning to talk and Hero of the Play, poems in the language of hockey, launched at the Hockey Hall of Fame.

His latest, On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood (2016), is set against overflowing banks of the Bow River.

Professor Harrison teaches English and creative writing at Calgary’s Mount Royal University. He holds a BSc in biology and a BA in philosophy from Trent University and an MA in English from Concordia University.

Joy Johnson leads Simon Fraser University’s strategic research initiatives and facilitates international opportunities that foster research collaborations and student exchange. Her work focuses on facilitating research excellence and helping the university respond to new opportunities.

Dr. Johnson joined the university in September 2014 after serving as the scientific director for the Institute of Gender and Health at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Her research is on health promotion and health behavioural change. A major thrust of her work focuses on sex and gender issues in substance use and mental health.

Dr. Johnson’s work has been recognized with numerous awards including the UBC Killam Research Prize. In 2010, she was recognized as one of British Columbia’s 100 Women of Influence.

Janice Keefe is a professor in the department of family studies and gerontology at Mount Saint Vincent University and holds appointments at Dalhousie University’s faculties of medicine and graduate studies and UNB’s school of graduate studies. In 2002, she was selected as Mount Saint Vincent’s first Canada Research Chair in aging and caregiving policy which she held from 2002-2012. Dr. Keefe has received provincial, national and international recognition of her research, most recently from the Canadian Healthcare Association for her contribution to continuing care in Canada.

In 2006, she was awarded the Lena Isabel Jodrey chair in gerontology and appointed director of the Nova Scotia Centre on Aging. Dr. Keefe’s research areas are caregiving policy and practice, continuing care policy and projecting the needs of older Canadians. In the past decade she has published over 60 articles and technical reports. She teaches courses in social policy and aging in the master’s of arts and undergraduate program in family studies and gerontology and provides mentorship and supervision to a number of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Director, CHUL and Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases, Université Laval

10 minutes to 2067

Towards 2067: Solutions through research and innovation to sustain and improve our health care system

February 7, 2017, 9:15 – 10:45 am

Dr. Kobinger and his former research team at the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory developed a vaccine to prevent the devastating Ebola virus and a drug to treat those already infected. Known worldwide as the Canadian vaccine, the VSV-EBOV vaccine and the ZMapp treatment were so effective in preventing the spread of Ebola that clinical trials were fast-tracked, allowing distribution to start without delay, possibly saving thousands of lives.

He returned to his alma mater this summer where he first obtained his BSc in micro-biology. At Université Laval, his goal will be to develop a structure that can respond even more quickly to emerging and re-emerging pathogens. He also wants to set up a biobank, where pathogens and vaccine lots will be stored in conditions that ensure sufficient quality for use in clinical trials.

Dr. Kobinger has authored 120 peer-reviewed articles and holds nine patents. He was named scientist of the year by Radio-Canada in 2016 for his work on the Ebola virus.

Jérôme Lapointe is a PhD candidate in engineering physics at Polytechnique Montréal whose passion is the study of light. One of his papers, Making Smartphones Smarter with Photonics—hailed as one of the 10 top discoveries of 2015 by Québec Science—could potentially revolutionize the world of multimedia. Mr. Lapointe’s work shows how breakthrough invisible devices will add functionality to the glass screens of mobile phones. Countless applications entail placing a drop on the screen, for example, from blood glucose testing to blood alcohol screening.

The young engineer is the author of over 30 scientific publications, and he lectures in physics at Polytechnique. He has been awarded numerous distinctions, including the Lieutenant Governor’s Youth Medal and an Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship. Les Affaires magazine recently named him one of 10 standout future-building engineers under 35.

His dream is to help promising scientists and engineers develop their talents for the benefit of society. Having made a start towards this goal at university by founding the PolyProject technical society, where engineering students pool their ideas for inventions and develop the most promising projects, Mr. Lapointe now wants to focus his efforts on the whole of Canada.

Poet laureate of Calgary, 2017-2018
Lecturer, department of English, languages, and cultures, Mount Royal University

Pop-up poetry

February 6 -7, 2017

Dr. Micheline Maylor is poet laureate of Calgary. Her collection Little Wildheart was short-listed for the Robert Kroetsch award for experimental poetry and is forthcoming with the University of Alberta Press (2017) and deals with the question: What is it to be human in our environment?

Her second collection Whirr and Click (2013) was on the Pat Lowther Memorial Award shortlist. Her latest works can be found in Partisan, The Literary Review of Canada, and Quill and Quire.

Dr. Maylor teaches creative writing at Mount Royal University where she won the teaching excellence award in 2015. She was the Calgary Public Library author in residence in the fall of 2016. She serves as poetry editor at Frontenac House Press and is the past-president and co-founder of Freefall Literary Society and remains a consulting editor.

Professor, political science, University of Waterloo and Balsillie School of International Affairs
Senior fellow, Centre for International Governance and Innovation

10 minutes to 2067

The business case for Canadian pluralism

February 7, 2017, 9:15 – 10:45 am

Dr. Bessma Momani works on issues of global economic governance and specializes in the political economy of the Middle East. She has extensive expertise in the fields of Canadian foreign policy, Arab Spring and organizational culture. More recently, Dr. Momani’s research focuses on public policy promoting responsible citizenship among Arab-Canadian youth and engaging them as citizens within a pluralistic society.

She is a 2015 fellow of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and a Fulbright scholar. She is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre and has been non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. and a visiting scholar at Georgetown University’s Mortara Center.

Dr. Momani has authored and co-edited over eight books and over 65 scholarly, peer reviewed journal articles on the IMF, the World Bank, petrodollars, the Middle East and Arab youth. She is a current recipient of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s research grant to study IMF and World Bank cooperation. She is a regular contributor to national and international media on the Arab region, international politics and on global economic governance issues.

Director, National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, University of Manitoba

Resetting the relationship: Advancing reconciliation within the university and beyond

February 6, 2017, 2:30 – 4:00 pm

Ry Moran is the first director of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, located at the University of Manitoba. He is responsible for guiding the creation of an enduring national treasure – a dynamic Indigenous archive built on integrity, trust and dignity. He came to the centre from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

Before joining the commission, Mr. Moran was the founder and president of YellowTilt Productions, delivering services in a variety of areas including Aboriginal language presentation and oral history. He has hosted internationally broadcast television programs, produced national cultural events, and written and produced original music for children’s television. Mr. Moran is the recipient of a National Aboriginal Role Model Award and a Canadian Aboriginal Music Award.

In addition to working with his team to build the centre from the ground up, Mr. Moran continues to advocate for survivors, truth and reconciliation with regular commentary in radio, print and television. Mr. Moran is a proud member of the Métis Nation.

Associate professor; chair, Indigenous arts in North America, University of Winnipeg

The power of art: Strengthening and celebrating pluralism through the arts

February 6, 2017, 2:30 – 4:00 pm

As the first chair in the history of Indigenous arts in North America, Dr. Julie Nagam holds a joint position with the University of Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. She is responsible for researching and developing a series of courses, exhibitions and related programs designed to engage, enhance, and develop the area of Indigenous art.

She is currently leading a team to create an Indigenous app for Winnipeg’s art, architectural and place-based history, and is co-curating an Indigenous contemporary exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery for the fall 2017.

Previously, Dr. Nagam was an assistant professor at the Indigenous visual culture program and the faculty of liberal arts and sciences at OCAD University. She holds a PhD from York University in social and political thought, as well as a master’s in Native studies and a bachelor’s in women studies and art history from the University of Manitoba.

Professor Santa Ono became president and vice-chancellor of The University of British Columbia on August 15, 2016. A Vancouver-born biomedical researcher, professor Ono has worked at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, University College London and Emory universities.

Professor Ono’s research encompasses the immune system, eye inflammation and age-related macular degeneration – a leading cause of blindness. He and his research team are working to develop a blood test that could identify biomarkers in people who are progressing towards the disease.

As a university administrator, professor Ono is also known for his vision beyond the laboratory. Previously, he served as the university provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. He was the first Asian-American president of the University of Cincinnati when he was appointed in 2012.

He is deeply committed to diversity and his achievements were recently recognized by the American Council on Education with an award that honours individuals who have demonstrated leadership and commitment on a national level to the advancement of racial and ethnic minorities in higher education. Inside Higher Education named him America’s most notable university president in 2015.

An avid music lover, whose tastes range from Rihanna to Rachmaninoff, professor Ono studied at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore and still finds time to sing and play his cello.

A partner with the Western Canadian law firm, MLT Aikins, Reis Pagtakhan has over 21 years of experience advising businesses, not-for-profits, charities and individuals on immigration matters.

A believer that immigration laws need to change to serve the best interest of Canadian society, Mr. Pagtakhan has presented position papers and appeared before House of Commons and Senate Committees to propose changes to immigration legislation.

Mr. Pagtakhan has guest lectured on immigration law at the University of Manitoba faculty of law. He has written numerous opinion pieces for the CBC and Winnipeg Free Press to advocate for a fair Canadian immigration system that will attract the best and brightest from around the world.

He is a member of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce’s Human Resources Leadership Council and is a director of the Human Resource Management Association of Manitoba.

Mr. Pagtakhan is an alumnus of the University of Manitoba from which he holds a bachelor of laws and a bachelor of arts (Hons).

Sina Queyras teaches creative writing at Concordia University. She is the author of Lemon Hound and MxT, both from Coach House Books. My Ariel will be published in 2017.

Her first collection of poetry, Slip (ECW 2001) is a metrically charged view of urban female desire. Lemon Hound (Coach House 2006) conjures Virginia Woolf and Gertrude Stein into twenty-first century Brooklyn and Toronto.

Expressway looks at the implications of both the infrastructures and means of modern mobility, troubling pastoral and elegiac modes and was nominated for a Governor General’s Award. MxT explores elegy and elegiac modes. It was a Lambda finalist and won the Pat Lowther and the AM Klein Award for Poetry.

Her first novel, Autobiography of Childhood was shortlisted for the Amazon.ca first novel award.

She is interested in eco-poetics, avant-garde, conceptual, Canadian and innovative women’s writing of all genres.

Ms. Queyras holds a MA from Concordia University and a BFA from The University of British Columbia. She lives in Montreal and teaches at Concordia University.

Innovation beyond borders: Future global impacts of Canadian innovation from research to commercialization

February 7, 2017, 9:15 – 10:45 am

Concerned about the long wait times to detect signs of malignant moles, Dr. Maryam Sadeghi created the low-cost, innovative device and app called MoleScope. The award-winning device and app were created during her tenure as director and founder of the Digital Health Hub at Simon Fraser University. A computer scientist and engineer noted for her dynamic approach to both research and business, Dr. Sadeghi is CEO of MetaOptima Technology Inc., which won an award in the 2013 BCIC-New Ventures Competition.

She is interested in e-Health applications and innovative patient-centric digital health solutions. Dr. Sadeghi continues her research and science projects as the science and technology advisor at SFU’s Digital Health Hub. She also acts as a mentor and works with high-school students as a volunteer for Let’s Talk Science and Try/CATCH — an annual SFU event and conference promoting computing science and engineering to girls.

Born in Iran, Dr. Sadeghi moved to Canada in 2007 to study at Simon Fraser University. She completed her PhD studies at the university’s medical image analysis lab working closely with BC Cancer Agency and Skin Care Centre at UBC Dermatology.

Dammee Sero is a fourth-year human rights and human diversity student at Wilfrid Laurier University. She came to Brantford, Ontario in 2012 through the World University Service of Canada’s Student Refugee Program (WUSC/SRP) to study and resettle in Canada. Ms. Sero is a passionate poet and a transformational leader. She aspires to build a foundation that will empower refugee women, girls and other disadvantaged groups to get an education.

Before coming to Canada, Ms. Sero spent a decade in the Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya with her family. For Ms. Sero, education is the key to empowerment and change. While in Kakuma, she taught girls for a year and mobilized parents to send their girls to school. In the summer of 2015 she participated in a human rights field course in Mexico, where she worked with Central American migrants transiting through the country on freight trains. Last summer she completed a 90-day internship at a human rights organization in Ghana. Ms. Sero is very active in the Wilfrid Laurier University campus branches of WUSC and in the community.

She is also a recipient of a 3M National Student Fellowship Award in 2016.

Under Abdullah Snobar’s leadership, the DMZ at Ryerson University has been named the top-ranked university incubator in North America and third in the world by UBI Global. Mr. Snobar is responsible for driving the DMZ’s key priorities forward: providing innovative and customized support for start-ups, increasing business development and market expansion opportunities, and fostering stronger local and international community partnerships.

Mr. Snobar participates in numerous industry, community and cultural boards. He is the founder and program lead of the Ryerson international experience learning program and is also involved with SupaMaasai, a non-profit foundation in Kenya that strives to improve the quality of living for the Maasai community, with a focus on women and youth.

Director, Petrocultures East, and professor, communications and cultural studies, University of Waterloo

10 minutes to 2067

Energy justice

February 7, 2017, 9:15 – 10:45 am

Imre Szeman is director, Petrocultures East, and professor of communications and cultural studies at the University of Waterloo.

Previously, he was Canada research chair of cultural studies at the University of Alberta where he was also the co-director of the Petrocultures Research Group and director of the collaborative group research project, After Oil: Explorations and Experiments in the Future of Energy, Culture and Society.

Dr. Szeman’s research focuses on energy and environmental studies, social and political philosophy, and critical theory and cultural studies. Some of his books include: After Oil (2016), Fueling Culture: 100 Words for Energy and the Environment (2016), and is currently working on Petrocultures: Oil, Politics, Culture (2017) and the fourth edition of Popular Culture: A User’s Guide (2017).

Recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Szeman was bestowed a Killam Research Professorship in 2013 and the University of Alberta’s J. Gordin Kaplin Award for Excellence in Research in 2015.

Associate professor and director, Indigenous academic and community engagement, and associateprofessor University of Victoria

Resetting the relationship: Advancing reconciliation within the university and beyond

February 6, 2017 3:15 – 4:30 pm

Qwul’sih’yah’maht (Dr. Robina Thomas) is an associate professor at the School of social work at the University of Victoria. Currently, she is the director of Indigenous academic and community engagement. Dr. Thomas has extensive experience in the field of Indigenous studies. Her Master’s thesis focused on Kuper Island Residential School and her PhD dissertation focused on Indigenous women and leadership. Her research interests include: Indigenous women and children, residential schools, storytelling, community engagement and anti-colonial/anti-racist practices as a way of life.

Canada research chair, child, family and community resilience, Dalhousie University

Open doors, open Canada: Canada in an age of global migration

February 6, 2017, 2:30 – 4:00 pm

Michael Ungar is founder and director the Resilience Research Centre at Dalhousie University. He has designed longitudinal research and evaluation projects in collaboration with organizations as diverse as The Human Development and education branch of the World Bank, NATO, The Red Cross, and national public health agencies.

Dr. Ungar’s research focuses on the resilience of internally displaced children and families, refugee and immigrant youth populations. More recently, his research has included studies on resilience to violent extremism in communities experiencing structural disadvantage and social marginalization.

Dr. Ungar has published over 135 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on the topic and is the author of 14 books for mental health professionals, researchers and parents. His blog Nurturing Resilience can be read on Psychology Today’s website.

Tanya van Biesen is executive director of Catalyst Canada, the leading global non-profit working to accelerate progress for women through workplace inclusion.

She currently serves as the Toronto chapter representative for Women Corporate Directors Foundation, a global membership organization and community of women corporate directors dedicated to accelerating best practices in corporate governance.

A sought-after speaker on the topic of diversity in the boardroom, Ms. van Biesen has contributed to several research studies and articles analyzing leadership trends and attributes. She holds an MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business and a bachelor of commerce from Queen’s University, and speaks English, French and Dutch.

A visionary young leader, Maayan Ziv is an activist, photographer and entrepreneur. From a young age, Ms. Ziv has challenged norms and worked within her community to increase awareness of disability issues and improve accessibility.

Living with muscular dystrophy, Ms. Ziv is a passionate and relentless advocate for creating a more accessible world. In 2015, she founded AccessNow, a crowd-sourced app to map the accessibility status of locations worldwide. She has since been a regular media commentator on topics such as disability and inclusion.

In 2016, Ms. Ziv received the City of Toronto Access Award and the David C. Onley Leadership in Accessibility Award in recognition of her innovative solutions and commitment to improving the lives of people of all abilities.

As a photographer, she has worked with celebrities, fashion models and other influential individuals. Her photography has been featured in galleries, magazines and on television.

Ms. Ziv sits on the boards of the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto and the Toronto Arts Council.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in radio and television arts and a master’s degree in digital media at Ryerson University.

Event emcees

Myriam Fehmiu is a journalist and commentator for Télé-Québec, ICI Radio-Canada Télé and ICI Musique. She is host of the public talk show Montréalité on MAtv since September 2016.

Ms. Fehmiu can be heard regularly on ICI Radio-Canada Première and ICI Musique. She is also a reporter on the Télé-Québec show Ça vaut le coût.

She hosted the Radio-Canada morning show in British Columbia, appeared on the TV5 documentary series 21 jours and the ICI Radio-Canada Télé magazine show Par ici l’été, and was a panellist on TV5 Monde’s 300 millions de critiques.

Myriam Fehmiu has a bachelor’s degree in literature and communication and a certificate in journalism from the Université de Montréal. She held various positions in international aid before turning to journalism.

Chancellor, University of Victoria
Host and producer, The Next Chapter, CBC Radio

Conference emcee February 6 – 7, 2017

A veteran broadcast journalist, Ms. Rogers is currently the host and a producer of The Next Chapter, a CBC Radio program devoted to Canadian writing. She moved to British Columbia in 2003 after 23 years working on cultural and current affairs radio programs with CBC.

In 2011, she was named an Officer of the Order of Canada for promoting Canadian culture, and for her volunteer work in the fields of mental health and adult literacy. Ms. Rogers has committed herself to working toward reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people from coast to coast to coast, and was inducted as an Honorary Witness for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in June 2011.

Ms. Rogers holds honorary doctorates from the University of Western Ontario, Mount Allison University, Memorial University, Nipissing University and Vancouver Island University. She was the 2014 recipient of the Queen’s University Alumni Humanitarian Award.

On January 1, 2015, Ms. Rogers became the 11th chancellor of the University of Victoria.

Universities Canada presents

The PepTides

Music entertainment by the Ottawa-based The PepTides, a nine-member band with a distinctive larger-than-life pop sound that draws on funk, electronic and disco influences.

February 6, 2017, 7:00 – 10:00 pm

Program highlights

February 6, 2017

Opening keynote address

Small country, big impact

How does Canada build a path to prosperity in the face of huge economic and demographic shifts? Speaker will discuss the bold moves we can make to drive innovation and be a model for other nations during turbulent times.

The Road to 2067 – panel discussion

How do we build a future that embraces discovery and innovation, advances reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, drives prosperity and champions inclusion?

The next 50 years

A Q&A with special guest

Our youth have the talent, drive and ideas needed to shape the innovative, prosperous and inclusive Canada of tomorrow. Converge 2017 youth delegates will share questions and ideas about how they envision Canada’s future.

Luncheon keynote address

The path to Canada’s future: Education and reconciliation.

As we look ahead to 2067, what are the roads to reconciliation? How does education empower Canada’s Indigenous youth and help them achieve their tremendous potential?

Pluralism, equity and inclusivity and the role of universities – Concurrent sessions

Open doors, open Canada: Canada in an age of global migration
Amid growing geopolitical uncertainty, mass migration and refugee resettlement continue to be hot-button issues. How can we support new Canadians to succeed as valued members of an open, pluralistic and inclusive Canadian society?

Resetting the relationship: Advancing reconciliation within the university and beyond
In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released 94 calls to action to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada. What can the academic community do to effect deep and transformative change?

Breaking down barriers: Fostering a more inclusive Canada
Drawing from personal and professional perspectives, speakers will reflect on what it takes to create a more equitable and inclusive Canada.

The power of art: Strengthening and celebrating pluralism through the arts
Art, in its many forms, provides us with tools to express and celebrate identity. How do the arts contribute to strengthening and promoting diversity throughout Canadian society?

February 7, 2017

10 minutes to 2067

Thought-leaders from a range of disciplines give short talks about how to build a brighter future by addressing the major challenges of the 21st century.

The Blanket Exercise

The KAIROS Blanket Exercise is an experiential teaching tool that builds awareness and understanding of our shared history as Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada. Participants walk through situations that include pre-contact, treaty-making, colonization and resistance.

By engaging on an emotional and intellectual level, the Blanket Exercise educates participants about Indigenous rights and history in Canada while increasing empathy and contributing to reconciliation through education across the country

Mobilizing Generation 2017

How can Canada unlock the talent potential of our next generation of innovators, entrepreneurs and community leaders to achieve our country’s potential for 2067?